In many complicated mechanisms and apparatus it is necessary to perform periodic, visual inspections of certain components located in normally dark areas. Often such inspection points are difficult to reach with conventional lighting even though an illumination of the area for only a relatively short period is required to perform the inspection. Similar temporary lighting is also often needed for dark areas such as closets, drawers, safes and the like. Small lighting devices for handbags using conventional on-off switches have been described, for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,304,387 and 3,239,658. However, the need arose for a compact lighting module which could be easily installed in a variety of locations, could be easily controlled with a relatively simple turn-on switch and a timed automatic turn off switch which would provide ample illumination for a pre-selected period of time and yet conserve battery power. A general object of the present invention is to provide a lighting module that solves these aforesaid problems.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a touch initiated, timed turn-off light module that provides a relatively high degree of illumination and yet is compact and easy to install at a variety of pre-selected locations.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a lighting module having no moving parts which utilizes only solid state components and therefore is particularly well adapted for ease and economy of manufacture.
Another object of the invention is to provide a compact lighting module which can be turned on by a touch or proximity sensor and will turn itself off after a predetermined period of time.